Final Resting Place
by BloodRaevynn
Summary: Cry for all of us – poor mortals who destroy ourselves in our ignorance.


A/N: I haven't posted anything in a long time so a little one-shot seemed like a good idea. This is an odd idea that snagged me and wouldn't let go; it almost certainly has no basis in reality, but I had to write it anyway.

Final Resting Place

I brought my chocobo to a stop as close to the waterfall as she would go and gently patted the cheek of the woman lying against my chest to wake her up. Her green eyes opened only a little, accompanied by a fevered whimper. I had tried many times during the journey to ease her fever, pain, and delirium, to no avail; her body would no longer accept aid, any more than it would accept the death it craved.

"We are here, Lucrecia" I said, stroking her sweat dampened brown hair. "You need to sit up for a moment while I dismount." She nodded slowly. I lifted her forward to lean against the chocobo's neck and her fingers gripped the green feathers as tightly as they could despite their shaking and awkwardness; the bird warked softly in complaint, but did not move. I dismounted and shouldered my backpack before taking the sick woman in my arms. Beloved Gaia! How had she become so light?

"Where are we?" Lucrecia asked – the first lucid thing I had heard from her mouth since I had stolen her away from Nibelheim and Hojo.

"The materia cave we found when we were children," I answered, as I carried her toward the entrance. "Remember, little sister?"

"Everything's watching," Lucrecia moaned, as though she hadn't heard me. "The wind, the water, the mountains, even the stars…they're all looking at me. They all hate me for what I've done. She's watching too…my pain amuses Her."

"It will be quieter in the cave; no one will see you there, least of all Her," I walked behind the waterfall, turning so that Lucrecia was closest to the wall and wouldn't get as wet.

"Tears of Gaia," I heard her whisper, as some of the spray hit her face. "Cry. Cry for all of us – poor mortals who destroy ourselves in our ignorance."

I walked to the back of the cave, where I had put a pile of blankets and other supplies in preparation before I had gone to rescue my sister. I laid Lucrecia on the makeshift bed and pulled a blanket over her wasted body.

"Such a twisted creature," my sister said. "A monster who uses everyone to its own end. Someone so incapable of giving love does not deserve to _receive_ love."

"Hojo, you mean?"

"Myself," she picked at the blanket listlessly. "I thought I could control him, use the snake's venom to create a cure… And Vincent…the way I used him wasn't fair… I should have loved him…I wonder where he is…" Lucrecia's voice drifted off, as she fell into a restless sleep.

I paced the cavern, lost in my own thoughts. There was nothing I could do to help my sister's condition, and I knew it. Also, what she had done…no amount of apology or hindsight could excuse it. I removed her from Hojo's clutches only because of the bond of blood between us, but I had decided already to leave her here with her penitence and newfound humility – an appropriate punishment for her crimes of arrogance.

I sat against the side of the cave and closed my eyes to rest. How much time passed while I slept I do not know, but it seemed not long before Lucrecia's cries awoke me. I went to her side and knelt there; her eyes locked on mine.

"You're going to leave me alone here."

"Yes."

Lucrecia cried out, her face contorting, her body writhing in agony as it tried in vain to fight off the foreign cells that had been forced into it. When the pain at last abated, after what seemed like hours, my sister looked at me with glazed eyes that seemed not to really see me at all.

"I want to see my son," she said quietly. "I want to see Sephiroth. Where is he?"

"Lucrecia…"

"I haven't seen him yet," she continued, lightly. "The nurse must have taken him to get cleaned up, but he hasn't come back yet…" Once again, my sister was lost in her delirium. She reached out and gripped the sleeve of my coat. "Where is he? I want to hold him!"

"Hojo has him."

"Then bring him here! I want to see him!"

"I can't do that. Even if I could I wouldn't. That child is an abomination. The planet screamed when he was born."

"No! No! I want to see my son!"

I bowed my head. It was time to go.

"Goodbye, Lucrecia." I turned toward the exit.

"I want to see Sephiroth! Don't walk away from me!"

"I'm sorry…"

"IFALNA!"


End file.
